To ask about the Jeremy Corbyn controversy with his choice of son’s school?

[HeronO]

Hello all. Considering secondary schools for DD in Camden/Islington after move to be near DP’s family for support. I’ve got no family on my side apart from DP and DD!

Have chosen a school, thanks in part to some constructive advice on Mumsnet! It was the school DP went to when it was an old boys school but is now mixed and changed name.

DP’s talked a bit about his school over the years and DD very much wants to go to her Dad’s old school but I was literally yesterday years old when I learned that Jeremy Corbyn apparently split with his wife over sending his son there!

i don’t remember this news story at all but then again I don’t take much interest in politics!

Does anyone remember this? Don’t worry - it won’t influence our decision as it’s convenient for everyone in DP’s extended family, DD wants to go there and it’s currently top of our list.

… and me and DP definitely won’t be splitting up over it !

Thanks again for this

I’d never have found this info under my own steam tbh I was used to seeing school results come out once a year in the national newspapers - November iirc

I am talking about it in the present tense. I'm surprised that a school with a progress 8 of -0.94, an attainment 8 of 33.8 and only 21.3% of its students attaining a 5 in maths and English, would be the top if any parents list!

Never mind the reputation for bullying and violence!

Strange that you've managed to pick up on the spurious Corbyn connection but not the results/performance of the school in question

Ackland Burley seems to be the school people want their kids to join, or Hornsey Girls.
QE Boys (where Corbyn’s son did go) is a totally different, quite marmite school.

I admit I haven’t read the results because I got the impression the school has improved since becoming a mixed sex school

Thanks - I’ll mention Ackland Burley to DP - to see if he’s got any feedback on it

Ah thanks for this feedback - I didn’t think it still had a violent /bullying reputation- I assumed from the way DP was wording it that the violence had ceased

You seem to be remarkably passive about the school choice. Your husband went to effectively an entirely different school three decades ago that happens to be in the same location.

Assuming he has any specific insight into the school now is like asking someone who hasn't lived in the area for three decades what the best pub is or what the traffic on a specific road is like on Monday mornings. Their experiences 30 years ago would be entirely irrelevant to whether the pub is good today or whether traffic has got worse or better.

On the Ofsted website, you can see the latest reports on all schools and full exam results are available in various websites - good school guide, guardian, telegraph. And then you should go and visit.

So! Many! Exclamation! Marks!!!!!!!!!

Kids can easily travel independently to schools in London so there is no particular need to pick your nearest school anyway.

Acland Burghley, Camden School for girls etc are easily accessible from where Beacon High is. Parliament Hill School is a bus/cycle ride away.

This is for in- year entry or to apply now to start in Year 7 in September?

Year 7 in September

This

What a weird thread this is 😅

Beacon was the place Corbyn wanted to choose. His wife wanted to use a grammar school in Barnet. It is an article of Labour faith that all state schools must be good enough for any child, and even if some schools may be outstanding and some good the ones that are neither outstanding nor good are nevertheless perfectly fine and no one should be maneuvering to improve their child's life chances by getting to a better one. Any kind of selection or specialisation is antithetical to this. It was certainly an untenable position for him to be both Labour Leader and sending a child to a grammar school so he had to choose between his party and his family, and he chose his party.

It clearly demonstrates that a mother is prepared to think of her child's future over any political ideals which will affect them for life - v sensible woman and a mother who can see the bigger picture.

I knew someone who worked there 15 years ago and it sounded terrible. Looks like the results are awful still. Definitely not a desirable school, unfortunately.

Given his son is now 38, the discussion on his schooling was a long time before anyone had ever even considered Corbyn could be the leader of the Labour party

He was a very minor backbench MP at the time.

The second and third sons both went to Acland Burghley so none ever went to Beacon or it's predecessor schools (and it may well have been because they didn't get into QE which is highly competitive so it wasn't a choice open to them anyway)

Ironically the one who went to grammar school is now a football coach and didn't go to uni, while the two that went to Acland Burghley went to Cambridge and York.

So turns out the comp wasn't so bad at producing academic results for them.

Yet when Diane Abbott took this approach she was, and continues to be, eviscerated in the press and by the general public.

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

Ah thanks. This explains the issue objectively and very well, I think.

With us it’s not so much about politics it’s more that she wants to go where her Da went! - and proximity to our extended family

Ah my DP went in the 80s so maybe it was better then .. no issues with kids on phones /social media constantly like there would’ve been circa 2010 when the person you know worked there ! I honestly thought it was better since being a mixed school

The school your husband went to doesn't exist anymore. There is a completely different school on the site (with new buildings etc)

Your daughter is 10 or 11 so really her wishes are not hugely relevant to what school to choose especially when they are based on something silly like her dad going there

It's a 15 minute walk from Beacon High to Camden School for Girls so it really can't be that far from your husband's extended family. And it's not clear why the location of grandparents/uncles/aunts etc is something that is relevant to secondary school choice anyway? She won't need taking there and picking up so it's not required for extended family to need to access the school often (and again, it's only 15 min walk in any case)

Google maps puts it at 0.7 miles to Beacon del. Camden School for girls which would be just about close enough to have got a place at Camden last year, depending on what band she would be in and exactly how close you are to Beacon.
You need to hurry up and register for the banding test though.

ah thanks will look more at the Camden one even though DD wants Beacon - didn’t realise it was that close . You’re right, given her age that she wouldn’t need people to walk her to school etc - its just we were coming down on the side of Beacon - but will look into Camden option

Yes, the school argument was long, long before he became Labour Leader. If anyone had told me before 2015 that Corbyn would ever have been elected Leader I'd have laughed and laughed. He spent decades on the back benches defying the Labour leadership and voting however he fancied. Then he and his chums had the unmitigated gall to try to force Labour MPs to toe their line.

I do agree with this though: It is an article of Labour faith that all state schools must be good enough for any child, and even if some schools may be outstanding and some good the ones that are neither outstanding nor good are nevertheless perfectly fine and no one should be maneuvering to improve their child's life chances by getting to a better one. Any kind of selection or specialisation is antithetical to this. I knew a couple who were active in the Labour party and trade unionism who took this approach and sent their sons to a school most local families avoided like the plague. It didn't end well, sadly.

Camden School for Girls is fantastic - a million times better than Beacon. Compare their data to this www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/100054/the-camden-school-for-girls/secondary

Ah thanks very much for this link 🙌